T

he Sept. 13 edition of The Jakarta Post reported on the Ambon Bay Festival in Ambon, Maluku. The festival was organized to promote the province and its capital, Ambon, as an international tourism destination.

Indonesia has a long way to go regarding waste management. Bali'€™s Kuta Beach, a favorite tourism destination in Indonesia, gets deluged with garbage during the west monsoon season and the garbage found there does not come from abroad. Rivers, drains and canals are garbage dumps in Indonesia and tourists don'€™t fail to notice. These once pristine beaches are now littered with plastic, all over the archipelago.

Ambon Bay, once the undisputed gems of Maluku, has now become by far the biggest garbage dump in Eastern Indonesia. Anchor in Ambon Bay and within minutes your circulation pumps will stop working because they get clogged with plastic. Ambon has built a boulevard, but decided not to relocate Mardika market after it was burned down during the 1999-2002 clashes. It is still sitting on that Boulevard, next to a river filled with unlimited loads of putrid garbage. Ambon city and its bay have become the eyesore of Eastern Indonesia and the local authorities haven'€™t got the foggiest notion of international tourism standards.

Indonesia, please get your act together before the country drowns in its own garbage and international tourists find a new favorite destination outside Indonesia.

Frans Huneker
Ubud, Bali